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<br />From: Stephen Holmes <br />Date: Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 8:42 AM <br />Subject: Innovative Technology at Honolulu's Reclamation Plant | Veolia North America <br />To: Kate Logan <br />Cc: Ramzi Mansour, Dee Fulton, Rick Gaffney, Georjean Adams <br /> <br /> <br />Kate: <br />Here is the link for Veolia which entered into a water recycling contract with Honolulu as I discussed in <br />an earlier email. Included is a video clip by Barry Usegawa of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. <br />https://www.veolianorthamerica.com/case-studies/innovative-technology-honolulus-reclamation-plant <br /> <br />While Hawaii County Corp Counsel has raised the Konno court decision as an impediment for Hawaii <br />County to do similar projects and leverage public sector resources, setting up dialogue with Corp <br />Counsel in Honolulu on how to structure these solutions and avoid litigation seems logical. We have a <br />Hawaii State Association of Counties to do exactly this. Learn from each other and benefit from <br />successes. <br /> <br />Based on my experience on both the Honolulu City Council and later as an Executive Assistant to Mayor <br />Harris, I don’t buy that Hawaii County needs legislation to do this. <br />I could list numerous public private partnerships that Honolulu entered into after the Konno decision. <br />Same state, same laws. <br /> <br />I mentioned earlier the cesspool problems in Puako and how the County could initiate a sewer <br />improvement district and have Mauna Lani Resort treatment plant handle the flows in a mutually <br />beneficial arrangement. The City & County of Honolulu did this in Aina Haina where flows went to a <br />private treatment plant in Hawaii Kai. It has been done and all we need is to set up a Zoom call to <br />Honolulu to convince County attorneys that this is so and how to structure it to avoid litigation. <br /> <br />With Pahala and Naalehu, there is no existing County treatment plant. Given EPA has already set in place <br />a consent decree and the current plan is a hot mess, why not contract it privately but mandate they hire <br />union employees? Find middle ground. <br />Ramzi Mansour and his team have a full plate with so many other projects competing for funds. It only <br />makes sense to triage the current crisis. Use sustainability as a model and do water recycling in these <br />agricultural communities to support the local economy. Connect all of the homes to address the looming <br />cesspool conversion deadline and meet all of the needs of those communities for proper treatment. <br /> <br />Please run this up to Mayor Roth as policy direction comes from him. He is an attorney himself, so <br />reaching out to Honolulu Corp Counsel for free advice should sound appealing. With term limits, every <br />mayor has a narrow window to make things happen and create a legacy that he can be proud of. <br /> <br />Here is one of the proudest moments of my time in elective office at the grand opening of the Ewa <br />Water Recycling Facility with Mayor Harris (on the left): <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Steve Holmes <br /> <br />